The Lord is the strength of His people, and the protector of the salvation of His anointed: save, O Lord, Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance, and rule them for ever. -- (Ps. 27. 1). Unto Thee will I cry, O Lord: O my God, be not Thou silent to me, lest if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. V.: Glory to the Father . . . -- The Lord is the strength of His people . . .

COLLECT.--O God of hosts, to whom all that is best doth belong, graft in our hearts the love of Thy Name, and grant us an increase of religion: that Thou mayest foster what is good, and with tender zeal mayest guard what Thou hast fostered. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth . . .

EPISTLE ¤ Romans 6. 3-11
Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Romans.

[Dead through sin, we have been plunged and buried with Jesus in the baptismal water. Christ atoned for our sins, by dying on the Cross, and our old man (our evil nature) was crucified with Him. After the Resurrection Christ walks in a new life; we must also walk in newness of life.]

Brethren, All we who are baptized in Christ Jesus are baptized into His death. For we are buried together with Him by baptism unto death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, and that we may serve sin no longer. For he that is dead is justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ. Knowing that Christ, rising again from the dead, dieth now no more, death shall no more have dominion over Him. For in that He died to sin, He died once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. So do you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God; in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Return, O Lord, a little: and be entreated in favor of Thy servants. V.: Lord, Thou hast been our refuge from generation to generation.
Alleluia, alleluia. V.(Ps. 30. 2, 3). In Thee, O Lord, I have hoped, let me never be confounded: deliver me in Thy justice, and release me: bow down Thine ear to me, make haste to deliver me. Alleluia.

GOSPEL ¤ Mark 8. 1-9
 Continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. Mark.

[Jesus miraculously feeds four thousand men: He foreshows how He will feed the souls of men by means of the Holy Sacrament -- the True Bread from heaven.]

At that time, when there was a great multitude with Jesus, and they had nothing to eat, calling His disciples together, He saith to them: I have compassion on the multitude, for behold they have now been with Me three days, and have nothing to eat; and if I shall send them away fasting to their home, they will faint in the way: for some of them came from afar off. And His disciples answered Him: From whence can any one fill them here with bread in the wilderness? And He asked them: how many loaves have ye? Who said: Seven. And He commanded the people to sit down on the ground. And taking the seven loaves, giving thanks, He broke and gave to His disciples to set before the people. And they had a few little fishes, and He blessed them, and commanded them to be set before them. And they did eat, and were filled: and they took up that which was left of the fragments, seven baskets: and they that had eaten, were about four thousand: and He sent them away.

SECRET.--Be appeased, O Lord, by our humble prayers, and favorably receive the offerings of Thy people: and that the prayers of none be vain, no one petition void, grant, that what we ask faithfully, we may obtain effectually. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost . . .

It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God; Who, together with Thine only-begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost, art one God, one Lord: not in the oneness of a single Person, but in the Trinity of one substance. For what we believe by Thy revelation of Thy glory, the same do we believe of Thy Son, the same of the Holy Ghost, without difference or separation. So that in confessing the true and everlasting Godhead, distinction in persons, unity in essence, and equality in majesty may be adored. Which the Angels and Archangels, the Cherubim also and Seraphim do praise: who cease not daily to cry out, with one voice saying:

I will go round, and offer up in His tabernacle a sacrifice of jubilation; I will sing, and recite a psalm to the Lord.

POSTCOMMUNION.--We have been filled, O Lord, with Thy Gifts: grant we beseech Thee, that we may both be cleansed by their effects, and defended by their aid. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth . . .